13 December 2008

Last Saturday, 6th December, was Spain’s constitution day and also St. Nicolas Day. Since St. Nicolas is the patron saint of Alicante, there were processions by the various guilds that participate in the local Moros y Cristianos festivals all over town. I happened upon the biggest of them when passing by the town hall in mid-day.

Main
The saint is carried in front of the town hall:

The alternates:

Alternate 1
He is heavy:

Alternate 2
This little girl was taking her participation very seriously:

Alternate 3
The street behind the town hall:

Alternate 4
Either they are done or they are waiting their turn, I never found out:

Alternate 5
It all finished with very noisy fireworks. One can question the wisdom of fireworks in mid-day, but it is quite common here:

On Sunday morning I had to drop off my daughter at a theme park in Benidorm, Terra Mitica. Afterwards, I went for a walk along the beach.

Alternate 6
Too cold for anyone to use the beach chairs today. However, they are not put away completely, because they might be needed again any time:

Alternate 7
On a morning during the off-season, the beach belongs to senior citizens:

Alternate 8
The foundation of Benidorm’s economy:

Alternate 9
The beachfront promenade in Benidorm is like one big community centre. Here the events of the day are being discussed:

Because of constitution day falling on a Saturday, we all had Monday off. My wife took our daughter for some kind of hair treatment in Alicante’s mini-Chinatown. Those guys work every day, holiday or not.